It is well known that the problems of the homeless and the environment are major issues. At times, there almost appears to be no solution for these problems. It is difficult to provide inexpensive housing for the homeless. It is equally difficult to provide solutions to environmental problems.
From an environmental standpoint, it has proven especially difficult to provide for disposal of vehicle tires. Such disposal is especially difficult with automobile tires because of the large number of those tires and the high volume of space occupied by the tires.
Because a tire is extremely stable, it is hard to dispose of a tire. A tire does not decompose in a reasonable time. If a tire with insufficient tread to be useful is left whole, it provides an excellent breeding ground for mosquitoes, when water collects therein. Burial of a tire does not work, because a tire will eventually work its way out of the burial site. The buried tire clearly does not decompose and can occupy a great volume of a landfill.
The high stability of a tire mitigates against the destruction of the tire. Some efforts are known to burn a tire. Such burning, however, causes pollution. For the most part, the burning destroys material used in the tire and prevents reuse thereof. Again, the stability makes tire hard to burn. Such burning can also create pollution without the use of extremely expensive and careful controls.
Most attempts to solve the problem of the homeless have failed. A possible solution is an inexpensive structure which may be quickly set up, while maintaining the required strength and support.
If a method and apparatus can be developed to use tires to provide inexpensive housing, two major problems are solved. Not only do the people requiring inexpensive housing have it available, but also the difficulties involved in disposal of the tires are avoided in an effective fashion while, at the same time, solving a major, seemingly unrelated, problem in the field of housing. Waste can thus be solution to a problem.